I doubt I'd Ever Forget Meeting You
by FearlessRegal
Summary: Outlaw Queen AU. Robin and Regina's relationship is put to the ultimate test when tragedy occurs. How far can one man's love go to keep these souls together. How much determination will it take for one woman to not let everything she's worked for her entire life slip away from her. How can they remain what they were, before.
1. Red

"Oh, Robin shut up." Holding onto his arm tightly with both of hers as they attempted to cross the street, squashing their feet through the mush that lined the sidewalks.

"They're new shoes, ugh. I didn't want to ruin them!" Tip toeing, trying to keep as much of the red leather from touching the slush as possible.

"Oh, god woman…" Chuckling harshly, he wrapped his hands around her waist and heaved her up and over his shoulder, receiving a loud shriek, mixed with the most adorable of giggles.

"Robin! Put me down!" Laughing almost too hard to speak, she playfully hit his back, then moved one hand to cover her bottom, pulling her skirt down, shrieking again,  
"BABE! I'm flashing half of New York!"

Scoffing, he made his way to the cleared end of the crosswalk and set her gently on her feet.  
"And as we know, that view is reserved for my eyes only." Grinning wildly as he pecks her playfully on the cheek. As she hit him in the arm with an open palm, she breathed out as she was still laughing,  
"Don't do that again!" Sliding her hand down his harm she took his hand in hers, tangling her fingers between his. Swinging their arms playfully waiting to cross the street, she looked up to him, and asked curiously in reference to the movie they had just seen,

"What makes the bad guys always think they'll be the ones that wont get caught?"  
"Cockiness and stupidity, thinking they're superior."  
"Hmm."

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking, like two people who commit two completely different crimes can end up sharing a jail cell, it's just strange."  
"What is?"  
"The justice system." The red light flicked off and the walking man was illuminated, signaling for them to make their way across the street.  
"You do know that was just a movie right?" Laughing and holding her close to him.  
"Well, ya I know that, but it's the same at work. I see it all the time. The papers that come across my desk, it's just-" Unable to finish her sentence, she was blinded by a bright light, and felt a tug at her waist.

"REGINA!"

Red. Red was all he saw anywhere. He saw it on the street mixing with the melting snow and dirty slush. He saw it in his own hands, shaking violently as they reached out desperately to her jacket, stained-red. Red street lights flashing and red tail lights as they blurred, racing away form them. Blinking slowly,

"Regina," he could only whisper as he fought to fill his lungs with air. Swallowing, the taste of iron in his mouth. Raising his hand to his mouth his finger swirled around the edge of his lips, looking down at his hand he saw his finger painted red. He could hear the sirens, and the sounds of footsteps sloshing in the wetness approaching them. Unable to move other than his upper body he swiveled his head around, desperately trying to move closer to her. His finger tips grasped on to the tips of hers as hard as he could. Blinking slower and slower, whispering her name over and over again as the ambulance made its way around the corner. And the last thing he saw was red.


	2. Beep

The first thing he heard was the sound of gentle beeping next to his head as he drifted back into conciseness. Heavy eyes fighting his urge to look around as the beeping grew louder. Finally able to see the gentle green and blue colors surrounding him, the smell of sterile hand sanitizer filled his nostrils, and all he could hear was that damn beeping.

"H-" Barely audible even to his own ears, "Hey,"  
"Robin!" Turning his head quickly, he saw the figure move from the lounge chair by the window next to his bed in one swift movement.

"Will?"

"Yeah mate, I-I'm here, NURSE!" Squinting his eyes at the sudden loud noise and tone of his friends voice,

"Sorry mate." Standing there with his hands in his pockets as the nurse entered the room,

"He's awake." Removing one hand from his pockets to point to his friend.

"Wh-what happened? What day is it?" Bringing his hand to cup his face, attempting to wipe away his confusion.

"It's Saturday."

Saturday? How was it Saturday? He's wrong, he had to be wrong it's not Saturday it's Thursday.

"You were in an accident, sweetie." The nurses voice calm and soothing, gentle and affirming at the same time.

"What?" It clicked then, and the aching in his bones settled as she shifted uncomfortably. The beeping of the machine next to him increasing slightly as she crept into his mind.

"Regina. Where's Regina." Turning his head in a desperate attempt to locate her, confused as to why she wasn't by his side.

"Roibin-"  
"No. Where is she?"  
"Robin she's in the ICU."  
"Well, why isn't she here with me-"  
"Robin-"  
"We could share a room, why is she up in the ICU."  
"Robin." Meeting his gaze around the nurse who was still taking his vitals and checking on the fluids and making sure everything was connected correctly.

He saw the nurse and his best friend share a look. What was that look.  
"What. Will what's wrong?"  
"She hasn't woken up. Not yet."

His heart. He could swear his heart just fell to his stomach, and the damn beeping next to his ear wouldn't stop speeding up. Will's words spun around his skull sinking in slowly being absorbed by every part of him, and the god damned beeping wouldn't just stop.

"I have to go see her," Pushing off his blankets and getting tangled in the tubes surrounding him,

"No," attempting to push him down, the nurse wrapped her hands around his shoulders, but he halted her attempts to still him in one swift movement.

"NO! I HAVE TO GO SEE HER SHE HAS TO BE FINE GET OFF ME!" Gently pushing the nurse to the side and grasping at the plastic tubing attached to what seemed like every surface of his skin, desperately drying to unhook himself from the tubes. He was a marionette, being played with by fate itself. Almost as if the world thought it amusing to manipulate him in such a way. Pulling one final plastic attachment he cold hear the machine yelling at him. The incessant beeping was now just one long hum, mocking him, warning him, and pushing him.

Caught up in untangling himself he didn't hear the nurse call for back up, or feel the needle being injected into him with a sharp stab. Struggling as his limbs grew heavier, still desperately clawing at each and every obstacle as it faced him. Falling back against the bed, his head thumping against the pillow. He felt a tear ease down his face, and though he couldn't remember doing it, he was incessantly mumbling "No, no, no" over and over until his eyes were heavy again and he drifted off. Hearing nothing but the machine next to him taunt him in it's victorious beeping, reminding him that he had lost, again.


	3. Wheelchair

Finally waking agin, this time easier and much quicker than before. He was calm enough to talk, and promised not to try to get up again, not that he objected entirely as his legs felt like they were hit by a car. And apparently, they were.

"How is she." Desperately wanting to hear that what was told to him before was wrong. That she woke up, and is fine, and will walk through that door any moment.

"She's still the same. The doctors say her vitals look good, and they're remaining pretty positive." He could tell this was one of those sentences that had a,

"But…"  
"What."  
"Will. Just tell me." They both sat in silence for a moment, and finally will stood from his chair and made his way next to his friend.

"They say that even if she wakes up, she will probably have some memory loss." The words hit him harder than that car possibly could have.

"But… she'll be alright? She'll be healthy."

"They're hopeful. But they just keep telling me nothing is set in stone."  
"Nothing is set in stone what the hell does that mean, that's shit. Complete and utter bullshit." He could feel his heart racing again and he was fighting every urge to run to her and hold her and be with her.

"Robin, you promised, they said they'd have to restrain you next time come on."  
"I KNOW!" Sinking away from his words and laying down in a failed attempt to calm himself.

"I know." Staring blankly at the wall and clenching the blanket so hard his knuckles turned white.

"I just." Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath, "I just want to see her. Please"

Will stood there for a moment thinking about what was best for his friend.  
"I'll go talk to the nurses."

"Thank you."

Finally returning after what seemed like an eternity, Will entered the room slowly and nodded his head. Robin started to move,

"Wait! No no, they're getting a wheelchair, they're going to take you to her. You just stay there until they come to get you." Robin nodded in agreement and sat back, anxiously waiting.

The nurse entered the room with the wheelchair,  
"Well hello there handsome." Her smile seemed to bring him the only feeling of peace he had felt since he had woken up.

"My name is Tiffany. I'm your nurse, okay?" Robin smiled offered a distracted smile of affirmation as he untucked himself from his blanket.  
"Before we go on our little adventure I just need to check a few things alright?" It wasn't really a question and he knew this, but still he agreed with her as she carefully checked on him.

"Feeling better today?" Her eyes met his and the bitter answer he had ready about 'who cares how I'm feeling, just take me to Regina' washed away.

"I think so." Hanging his head ever so slightly in shame for even thinking of being rude to this woman, who had done nothing but try and help him. Who did nothing but try and help everyone.

This wasn't like him. He tried to live by a sort of code, or that's what he liked to tell himself at least. Being rude to people who take a vow to selflessly help people was by far not anywhere near that code.

Finally being helped into the chair, he couldn't help but feel like an invalid. Though as he rose to his shaky legs, he was silently relieved he wouldn't have to walk.  
"Careful, sweetie, you gottta go easy." The nurse's voice was soft but stern and dripping of concern.  
"You don't wanna set yourself back, you're probably going to need some physical therapy. Your legs feel pretty achy, don't they?" Robin nodded his head as he settled into the chair. It was only then that he realized he hadn't even asked about himself. He was conscious, and for now that was all that mattered.

As they walked down the hall the nurse's honey sweet voice told him a little bit about Regina's condition so far, though as they got nearer to her room her voice began to fade and all he could feel was his heart trying to beat it's way out of his chest.

Slightly annoyed, as it felt they were moving at a glacial speed, as he had to just sit there with his arms folded in his lap as he twirled his thumbs. Even though he hadn't ever been to this wing of the hospital before, it was almost as if he knew just by his heart which room was hers. Craning his neck to peek around the curtain as the wheels went three full rotations around, landing him by the side of her bed.

"I'll leave you two alone for a minute." A minute? That's all they were giving him. Over his dead body would he just sit here for '_One minute'_

As his eyes fell upon her he felt every emotion in existence wash over him at once. She looked so cold, but almost peaceful. He knew she wasn't simply sleeping because she was't scrunching her eyebrows or twitching her nose, and he couldn't hear that dull snore he had poked fun of so many times before, but would give anything to listen to right now. There was no expression on her face, it was just blank and he could barely even see her eyelids fluttering. Tentatively reaching out his hand to grasp hers and exhaling all the breath inside his lungs as his flesh touched hers. This is all he's wanted to do since the moment he woke up, and now that he was, all he wanted was to feel whole but he didn't. She wasn't squeezing his hand back, and she wasn't smirking at him or making fun of the worry wrinkles around his eyes, and his heart ached. He thought seeing her and holding her would magically make everything better but he should have known magic, after all, was not real. His eyes locked onto her chest as it rose and fell gently, and then to the tubes attached to her skin. His breath hitched in his throat when he noticed the one tube that rested in her mouth. He laid his head down on her outstretched forearm, and just breathed with her for what seemed like forever, but as the nurse came in to bring him back to his room he was reminded once again that not even forever would ever be enough time to have with her.


	4. Room 166

This was how he spent every night. After his weekly physical therapy he would go and just sit with her and talk to her. It's how he spent his mornings and afternoons and practically every moment he was physically able to be by her side. Reading the newspaper to her, and brushing the hair off her forehead, updating her on any and every subject that would keep him communicating with her. Co- workers would visit and relieve him for an hour or two to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom.

Three weeks came and went and he was still glued to her side. He had finally been released from the hospital, but he might as well have changed his home address to "Room 166" of that hospital. He hated being home. If he could even call it that-"home." She wasn't there, and it was empty and quiet and still. The photos on the wall that once reminded them both of good times, and induced laughter, were now along the lines of a shrine to the woman who still hadn't woken up. Walking down the halls of that place feeling more a stranger there than ever before, floating around like a ghost from room to room. Slowly the apartment started to be more and more bare, stripped clean of the picture frames leaving behind faded wallpaper stained walls. Slowly but surely their home grew empty, as her hospital room grew fuller.

He could never in a million years part with those precious captured moments. The photo of her at the fair with powdered sugar in her hair and outrageous laughter falling from her lips. Or the one of them on the ski lift, one of the first "selfies" they had taken. Still he could hear her laugh as she had to explain to him what that word meant. Those moments trapped in time were ones he would treasure forever. Placing them around her bed, and along the walls of the room, hating the fact this was slowly becoming the place he hung his hat at night.  
As he flipped the newspaper open he felt a tear tug at his eye, at the sight of an advertisement for the movie they had seen exactly seventeen weeks ago. 123 days. 123 days without hearing her voice. 123 days without her soft touch on his hand. 123 days. As his hand rose to wipe away the tear he hadn't put nearly enough effort into fighting, he heard a strange beep. He knew every sound that every machine hooked up to her made. He knew the pumping sound of the ventilator mimicking human breaths, and the slow steady beep of the heart monitor as it broadcast each one of her precious heartbeats. But this noise, this wasn't one of any of the noises he had come to pay close attention to. This was a murmured breath, off beat with the machine. This was the sound of someone struggling and gasping. His eyes were so glued to the machinery that he didn't meet her eyes until he felt a tug at his hand.

"NURSE!" Holding her hand tightly as her eyes widened and flicked across the room in a panic. The nurse rushed to the side of the bed and began to study her.

"She's waking up," she turned her tone from Robin to the woman squirming in the bed. Raising her voice she called loudly to reach her through her panic.

"I'm going to pull the tube out, okay? Can you cough for me?" Coughing as if her life depended on it as the woman pulled the tube out of her throat. Blinking aggressively as the nurse exited the room to go get the doctor.

"Regina." Breathlessly, he says her name and leans in, holding her tighter than he has ever held onto anything before. Only at the feeling of her arms stiff by her side and the sound of her humming under him did he break the embrace. Looking into her eyes, he saw something different. A glint of her sparkle was missing, and she looked at him like she didn't even-

_Oh. Oh god no. Please God no._

"I'm sorry," she starts,

_Don't say it. Please don't say what you're about to say._

"But, do I know you?" His finger tips felt cold, and he could tell all the blood was rushing towards his heart in all efforts to protect it from the words that seemed to stab him right there.

"Regina, it's me. Robin." Praying it would take something as simple as his name to make her remember, but her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"I'm… I'm sorry but, I don't know you." Just as Robin swore his heart was about to explode the doctor came in, and checked her over. Flashing the light between both eyes, checking every monitor, every item on the chart, answering every question.  
"What happened?" Speaking slowly almost as if if she managed to speak politely enough everyone would just leave her alone.

"You were in an accident. You were part of a hit and run." Tears welled up in her troubled eyes as she started to speak again,

Her eyes nervously glancing to Robin every now and then. When she finally asked the Doctor,

"I don't…I… I don't remember…"  
"Well, we're going to run some tests but, according to eye witness testimony, as well as your

injuries, your head was hit quite hard off of the curb of the sidewalk. You may suffer some short term retrograde amnesia." Blinking at him, not quite understanding the meaning of the words he was saying, but understanding that the words were not good by any means. Tears spilled over the edges of her eyes, and robin reached out on instinct and grasped her hand, his heart splitting in two as she flinched at the contact of their skin.

"Temporary… So, this could wear off?" Speaking for Regina, who could't even understand the situation enough to ask questions about it.  
"Yes, patients have been known to recover almost fully, regain memories back slowly over time." Seeing the both of them shift uncomfortably, settling into the hopelessness this situation seemed to induce in them, the doctor added,

"There are some tricks to get the brain to remember…"

Not missing a beat, Robin stood,  
"Whatever they are. We'll try them. We'll try them all."


End file.
